In 2020, nearly 80 percent of physicians worked in a practice that used telehealth, compared to only 25.1 percent two years earlier, according to a recent American Medical Association analysis.
For its latest Physician Practice Benchmark Survey, the AMA examined physicians' use of telehealth between September 2018 and September 2020.
Four report insights:
1. The percentage of physicians whose practices used video conferencing with patients grew from 14.3 percent in 2018 to 70.3 percent in 2020.
2. The percentage of physicians who used telehealth to manage patients with chronic disease increased from 9.9 percent to 59.2 percent between 2018 and 2020.
3. The number of physicians who used telehealth for diagnosing or treating patients also increased between 2018 and 2020, rising from 15.6 percent to 58 percent.
4. In 2020, 67 percent of physicians worked in a practice that used phone calls to provide care to patients.